With a population of over 200 million, Nigeria is Africa’s most populated country, with over 250 ethnic groups and cultures. With a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $362.8billion, Nigeria is also Africa’s third largest economy, with oil and gas, telecommunications, agriculture and entertainment as pivotal sectors driving growth and productivity.
According to statistics by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Internet penetration in Nigeria is 27%, percentage of households with Internet access is 17% , fixed broadband subscription is 0.04% and active mobile subscription is 19.9%. Some of Nigeria’s major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are also the biggest mobile telecommunications providers – MTN, Glo, Airtel and 9mobile. There are 121 licensed ISPs operating in the country, according to the country’s telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC).
Human rights activists said in this digital era, technology is undeniably an enabler of free speech and provides a marketplace of information. The internet has increased the speed with which information is accessed, reducing logistical barriers to accessing information.
However, digital rights in Nigeria have been consistently under threat by a number of legislations and policies, which have been in development over the past few years.
In 2021, Nigeria banned Twitter, and since 2019, the Nigerian parliament had made several attempts to censor social media. The country also has criminal defamation laws that impede the media.
Although Nigeria has a progressive Freedom Of Information (FOI) law, it has been poorly implemented and faced strong opposition at the sub-national level.
Weaponization of the Cybercrimes Act
The Cybercrimes Act of 2015 has been used against journalists and activists.
Anti-social Media Bill
The proposed Anti-social Media Bill would “criminalize the use of social media to spread false or malicious information”. The federal government has unveiled a bill aimed at regulating digital platforms.
The proposed legislation, which has been submitted to the National Assembly, seeks to repeal and reenact the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act, CAP L11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
Nigerian investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo, was arrested for during his undercover work on crude oil bunkering. He was also threatened after his exposure of some top Customs officials’ involvement in smuggling activities.
The developments of the past few years suggest that Nigeria seems to be at a critical moment as threats to digital rights and freedoms are on the increase.
The House of Representatives has also passed through second reading a bill seeking to establish an agency that will regulate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nigeria.
. The aim of the establishment of the agency is to regulate the use of the emerging technologies to address the various challenges that may arise, the lawmakers had said.
One of the lawmakers, Sada Soli, said Nigeria as a country with vibrant youth population that are technology savvy must set a framework in the usage of the various technologies available and set legal parameters to prevent possible abuse and misuse of the technologies.
A non governmental group, Paradigm Initiative (PIN) has documented the progress of draft legislations such as the Terrorism Amendment Bill (the amendment to Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011), the draft Executive Hate Speech Bill- which was submitted to the Ministry of Justice in 2017 and the Independent National Commission for Hate Speeches Bill, 2018. As at June 2019, when the tenure of Nigeria’s 8th National Assembly elapsed, these Bills remained draft legislations and failed to make required legislative progress that could have made them law. It should also be recalled that Nigerians fought to compel the Nigerian Senate to withdraw an anti-social media Bill in May 2016.
Meanwhile, the Paradigm Initiative (PIN) has sued the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) along with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) over breach of the National Identity Numbers (NINs) by hackers.
Others joined in the suit, whose hearing has been fixed for January 22, 2025, at an Abuja High Court, are the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation.
But NIMC had denied any breach to its database, saying NIN data of Nigerians are intact and not compromised.
PIN Executive Director, Gbenga Sesan, who disclosed this at a media parley in Lagos es early December, added that though NIMC had been consistently denying that NIN data were hacked, millions of Nigerians have had their personal data which was stored in the commission’s data base hacked by hackers sometime in April this year.
Sesan said, conservatively, data of 43million Nigerians might have been compromised by cyber criminals due to the negligence of NIMC.
He said PIN sued some other federal government agencies along with NIMC because they are also data collecting agencies and some of them used data collected by NIMC.
He said many Nigerians have had their secretly kept personal information exposed by the hackers through the negligence of some government agencies.
“Loan firms are now embarrassing many Nigerians because criminals have used their compromised personal data to get loans without their knowledge. They are now being harassed up and down by some of these loan firms”, the Executive Director said.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
